Crazy family

I went home for lunch today and decided to check on our rat Oreo, aka Roger.

Yes. Yes we do have a rat. A rat named Oreo, aka Roger.

Here’s the rat story before I get to the rat lunch story.

Last week I stepped outside and out of the corner of my eye I see a white and black thing scurry away from my flowers. He ran around the building but I couldn’t find him anywhere. I thought he was a hamster but I also thought maybe I was imagining things.

The next day our neighbor knocks on the door and tells Pat he found a rat. Since Pat is the maintenance man of our apartment complex, he gets all sorts of calls and knocks on the door. The rat had been on our neighbor’s patio but ran off. Me, Pat, the kids, the neighbor and his wife start looking for Mr Rat and I find him around another corner. Pat and the neighbor thus begin their quest to capture Mr Rat. After about an hour they give up – Mr Rat is a smart rat and knows not to trust Pat when he tells him to come out from under the patio, it’ll be ok.

Fast forward to Sunday, we were all outside and our neighbor comes around the corner and says the rat is back. Pat had gotten some traps from a co-worker and so the neighbor takes the trap to set it up by his patio. Ten minutes later the neighbor returns with Mr Rat.

We believe Mr Rat was purchased by another neighbor who happens to own a very large snake. Neighbor who caught Mr Rat gave him to Pat as Pat said he would give him to a co-worker. I guess snake neighbor didn’t want Mr Rat anymore. But then Caleb convinced Pat that for some reason it would be a good idea for US to keep Mr Rat. Because that’s what we need, along with rabies. And then of course since Caleb has a rat, Angel needs a hamster so it’s fair because after all life is always fair. And Pat’s wife, aka me, for some reason decided this was all ok.

This is all so confusing.

I guess I should have just said, we now have a rat.

Which sounds much more sane than, we decided to keep a rat we found outside, but it’s ok, really.

So, I go home for lunch today and decide to check on our rat Oreo, aka Roger.

Oh ya. Caleb originally name him Roger. Which I love. Roger the rat. Come on, how great is that!? But then last night he decided Roger was going to be called Oreo. And I said that I’m still going to call him Roger. Because when I was growing up we had a dog named Ed. But I called him Mickey because I collected Mickey Mouse stuff. And he knew both names. It was awesome.

His sign says Epic Oreo. How cool would it be if he was named Eric Oreo Roger!?

So, I go home for lunch today and decide to check on our rat Oreo, aka Roger. Who will now be referred to as Roger.

Unfortunately, Roger is not in his cage. Someone left the top off his cage which was on top of a table in Caleb’s room. So Roger first did a little mountain climbing and then a little sky diving. Thankfully Caleb’s door had been closed so we were pretty sure Roger was still in his bedroom.

Pat was home for lunch too so the four of us proceed to tear apart Caleb’s room looking for Roger. Caleb is crying and in between sobs asking if he can get another pet. After about 20 minutes we decide to let Jake – our black lab golden doodle – come into the room and see if he can sniff out Roger. No luck.

I then ask Pat if Roger could fit under Caleb’s door. Pat says probably. So then the four of us proceed to tear apart our entire apartment looking for Roger.

Pat decides to give Jake another try and while me and the kids are out in the living room we hear Pat cheer. Jake found Roger! He was in or under or something with the heat register behind the bed. Pat took apart the heat register and pulled Roger out and Jake got about 15 treats for having such a good nose!

The moral of the story?

If you happen to find a rat and keep it and give it two names and then lose it and then your dog finds it… you are not alone.

Hello? Anyone?

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The last time I actually wrote something on here, other than sharing about my devotional book, was September 2016. So I’m not sure I know how to do this anymore. But for the past few months I’ve sensed I should start writing again.

June always brings about an torrential downpour of feelings. Ug, the feelings. This year appears to be more difficult for some reason – six years since Mom and Dad left us with no warning and no goodbye. Not a magic number I don’t think, but the days match the dates this year – June 9th was a Saturday, etc. – so maybe that is why.

We’ve had five large totes filled with mom and dad’s pictures and everything they ever collected about us kids.

Every single report card. Every single sports event program. Every single newspaper article with our name. And I’m not talking, “Missy Hellman scored 25 points to lead the Pheasants to a win.” Because ya, that never happened. I’m talking “Missy Hellman, 0-3, 0 points, 4 fouls…” Highlighted in bright yellow.

A few weeks ago I decided to start sorting through the totes. It’s only been six years – it’s about time, huh! But UG, the feelings. Some days it’s fine and I laugh and laugh and laugh. Some days it’s torture and I last about 10 minutes. My brother Jim is coming out for a visit in July so I’m determined to get through everything by then so I can gift ALL. THE. STUFF. to my siblings.

I feel we’ve come a long way as far as taking pictures are concerned. I have three garbage bags full of pictures that are just scenery. No one in the picture. A tree. A hill. A sunset. Ok, I have kept some of the sunset pictures. Mom loved her sunsets. There is a downside to the digital pictures we have now in that we don’t ever get any of them printed. But let me tell you, having doubles and triples of every single picture! WHY!? It was just what you did I guess.

The best part about sorting through the pictures is experiencing Angel experience the pictures. I handed her my brother Tracy’s senior picture portfolio. She opened and yelled, “HELLO MULLET!” Haha it was so funny. He did have an awesome mullet.

Haha. Good thing Tracy doesn’t read my blog.

I’m not gonna lie, the past six years have been hard. I’m not the same person I was before Mom and Dad died. I’m also not the same person I was right after they died or a year after or three years after. Grief is a crazy thing – it ebbs and flows and changes you and changes you some more. I’m so thankful for the relationship I have with my brothers and sisters. It’s been difficult for all of us – all in different ways – but through it all I think Mom and Dad would be proud of how we have supported and loved each other.

It was fun coming across these pictures:

The original – 1980ish

Every time I come across a picture of Jim as a baby/little kid, I have to do a double take – he looks so much like Caleb.

And the retake in the exact same spot – no idea what year this was, mid 90’s I think.

UG, the feelings. Love my family so much – those with us still and those in heaven.

This week and next I’ll be sharing more feelings and memories and sorry in advance for that but maybe after that I’ll get back to normal stuff on my blog.

So we were on our way to school this morning. The kids were in the back not fighting or yelling and I was enjoying listening to the radio music.

And then I saw it.

Right above my head, just a few inches from me where the ceiling of the car meets the windshield, I saw a wing. Thinking it was probably a fly, I look closer, only to see that it was a bee.

I force myself to not scream or say or do anything for that matter. Angel is deathly afraid of bees and I knew if she saw or realized what was going on, she could completely freak out and then Caleb would freak out and then I would freak out and then we’d probably crash, and hello Jesus.

He didn’t move much so I figured I was safe. And then he started crawling out from the little gap and onto the ceiling. I leaned as far back in my seat as I could, again, trying not to alarm Angel or the bee.

Holding my breath for what seemed like a hour, I prayed to Jesus that the bee wouldn’t fly into my face or fly anywhere for that matter. And just like that, the bee walked back to the edge of the ceiling and windshield. And then he disappeared.

We finally arrived at school and I told the kids goodbye, I love you, have a good day, and I couldn’t believe they didn’t see the bee or figure out what was going on. Thank you Lord for small miracles.

After the kids were gone, I stuck my head up close to the windshield and I couldn’t see anything. Where in the world… and then I realized that little bugger crawled into the ceiling. Who knows who else was up there with him. He probably had an entire family in the ceiling planning how they were going to destroy my family.

I texted Pat, “There’s a bee in the ceiling of my car.”

He replied back, “K.”

Really?

Ok, so maybe this wasn’t as big an ordeal as I thought it was. And hopefully the bee and his family would stay in their comfy, warm home until Pat got off work tonight.

Now don’t go anywhere, I think there is more to this story than the bee and my high level of crazy.

I was thinking about that bee and how he snuck up on me. Before I knew it, he was right in front of my face. Who knows how long he had been hiding in my car ceiling.

I think temptation and sin is a lot like that. The bible says in 1 Peter 5:8 “Be alert and of sober mind. Your enemy the devil prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour.”

I’ve always been amazed at that verse and the picture it paints. Normally a roaring lion would be pretty hard to miss – but we are told to be alert and of sober mind. I think that’s because we allow so many things to distract us and before we know it the devil is right there ready to pounce.

We will all face temptation. Don’t be misled to think you won’t. That’s the first way the devil tricks us. And then we need to be alert and realize that in our temptation, there is a way out. Jesus provides us with strength and protection, when we trust in him.

So I’m trusting in Jesus today that he will lead me. I’m also praying that whatever temptation you may face today, or maybe are facing right this minute, that you will call out to Jesus. He is there.

And thank you Mr Bee for the good lesson today. But you’re still dead when my husband gets home.

We’ve been talking with Pat’s mom for awhile now about her moving in with us. Our target date was sometime this spring.

For the past few months she’s been noticing dark marks on the bottom of her cupboards. She’s done everything to clean it, but nothing works. The maintenance guy had looked at it numerous times and kept saying there was no water leak. We were pretty certain it was mold though.

This weekend things got real interesting. On Thursday or Friday she called to tell us water was coming out of the dishwasher. The maintenance guy looked at it and said he couldn’t fix it. A plumber came and said he couldn’t fix it. Another plumber came and took some pictures.